quote:While art director Jeremy Price and the rest of the team at Warner Bros. Games Montreal are looking to the previous Arkham titles for inspiration, they hope to leave their own mark with a couple of key differences. Since this is a prequel, Batman is a mysterious force in the streets of Gotham. Even the cops aren’t sure if he is a myth or supernatural. To emphasize this mystery and fear surrounding the character, the team is planning on amping up their use of silhouettes and film noir-esque low-key lighting to make him a more imposing figure. The developers are also taking advantage of the holiday setting for the game by creating Christmas decorations that are unique to the haunted world of Gotham City.

4.30.13 Update

On Robin

quote:“One thing I can say to partly answer that is there’s no Robin at this part of the continuity. There’s no concept of Robin. Batman works alone. Who knows, perhaps the first egg may be laid…”

On setting during Christmas Eve

quote:One of our inspirations for that is Die Hard, which I think is one of the greatest movies ever made, but it’s also a Christmas movie, right? One thing they use in there is whenever McClane has an idea you hear the Christmas bells. So the moment for example when he has the two bullets left for his pistol and he knows Hans has his wife… then you see the Chirstmas tape and the camera punches in. You hear the same thing just before he sends the guy down the elevator… all of his ideas are little Christmas moments.”

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Coming out 10/25/13. New developer Warner Bros. Games Montreal takes over for RockSteady.

quote:Story - Takes place on Christmas Eve - Years before the previous two games - Mob boss Black Mask will give a fortune for Batman’s head - Top assassins and supervillains from the DC Comics universe are out to get Batman - Cops on the take from the mob join the manhunt as well - Batman needs to outsmart his enemies, find out why Black Mask wants him dead, and prove to what good cops that he’s on their side General - Porting Arkham City to Wii U let the team get familiar with Unreal 3 - Doing a prequel lets the team carve a unique territory if Rockstar were to move the Arkham timeline ahead down the road - Rocksteady’s project is tightly under wraps - Younger Batman also “gives us the opportunity to refresh things a bit” - Combat system still in place - Will have “new layers, new opportunities, and new tactics” - New enemy types - Batman not as finely honed as in the previous games - Won’t control the Batwing directly - Batwing will figure into story sequences and acts as a universe-appropriate form of fast travel - Has the traditional predator mode in which players swing from perch to perch, glide kick, string guys upside-down, etc. - New remote claw that is like the grappler in Just Cause 2 - Batman targets two objects and fires out a claw - This hooks into the first object and launches another claw and rope to the second object - Can then pull the two objects together - Use this to knock enemies together, slam heavy objects into foes, string objects or people under a perch - Can string up an explosive barrel under a perch, lure enemies with a sonic batarang, then cut the rope with a normal batarang, dropping the explosive on their heads - Team knows Black Mask isn’t the most popular villain - Old Gotham is only half of the game world - Another new entire area is across the bridge called New Gotham - New Gotham is classier and has much taller skyscrapers - New zone doubles the size of the game world - Players can dismantle the hacked tower network - Towers emit a jamming signal that prevents the Batwing from flying into the area, meaning no fast travel - It also halts Batman’s sensors from placing points of interest on the map - Taking down the towers are varied and require all of Batman’s navigation, puzzle solving, and combat skills - Some can be taken down quickly, others must be returned to later with an upgrade - “Crime in Progress”: ex – saving some cops from a group of thugs, rescuing a snitch from being tossed off a roof - Activities give Batman a chance for experience point bonuses - Completing side quests also contributes to the GCPD’s understanding and appreciation of Batman - They will begin to know Batman and which side he stands on based on how much you take on the optional missions - Most Wanted system gives players a chance to go after villains outside of the core storyline - These optional side missions can be tackled when you discover them - Many optional missions offer upgrades - Batman’s butler Alfred may notice that he had a tough time in that situation and give him a new gadget - Dark Knight system is slightly more behind the scenes, though it’s still important - Dark Knight system provides a lengthy string of tasks that slowly goes up in difficulty as the game progresses - The team wants to avoid boring tutorials while still training players to be masters of predator and combat systems - Complete a certain number of counters or silent takedowns to receive XP rewards or a specific upgrade - Dark Knight system doesn’t replace challenge mode - Team wants to make challenges more meaningful